Matching scenes at the beginning and end of a story, often to show how things have changed through the course of the series, or to demonstrate that they haven't changed at all.

This is extensively used in kids' shows to illustrate the characters applying the lesson they learned today, which happens to apply to the issue presented in the beginning. Ya'know, just in case they didn't catch it. In any work, book ends are a way to show whether Character Development has occurred.

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Advertising

The Montana Meth Project has some chilling public service announcements with thesetwo having the Book Ends.

The first video shows a girl trying meth with her friends, saying she's only going to do it once. Cut to the next scene, where she uses meth again, still saying it's only once more. This was repeated a few more times, with the girl getting worse by the use of meth. At the end, the girl dies on her bed. Her younger sister then takes some meth from her older sister's jean pocket, saying she's only going to do it once.

The next video shows a young man trying meth, also saying that he'll only do it once, as he doesn't want to be like "that guy", a meth-addicted psycho, which scarily resembles him. He then tries meth once again, also with the same promise. Repeat a few times with the man getting more addicted, and he ends up being exactly like "that guy". In the end, a young girl buys some meth with the promise of only trying it once, as she doesn't want to be like "that guy". Which is obviously the guy before.

An Australian alcohol awareness advertisement opened with a father asking his son to get him a beer at a party, followed the son's descent into alcoholism, then ended with the son as an adult, asking his son to get him a beer at a party, with the implication that his son's life would follow the same course as his own.

Fan Works

I Did Not Want To Die begins with an enemy solider being shot and concludes with the protagonist being shot.

Rolling Blackouts starts and ends with Shinji and Asuka snuggling underneath a blanket during a black-out.

The Star Trek: New Voyages episode "World Enough And Time" has beginning and ending scenes that take place about 30 years from the time of most of the episode, all based around the character Hikaru Sulu.

The Harry PotterFan FicAfter the End begins and ends with a group hug surrounding Harry. Everyone is in a dark room, lit by a bluebell flame, which someone kicks out.

A Very Potter Musical begins with the musical number "Gotta Get Back To Hogwarts." Fast forward to the end of the sequel, when Harry finishes a moving speech and the whole cast breaks into song. Guess what they sing?

At the very beginning of the First Movement, Paul and John nervously walk along the beach, completely new to the world, wary of each other, and frightened. At the end of the Second Movement (in the chapter “Full Circle, Moebius-Style”), they walk together along another beach, back to being friends, more or less accustomed to the world (if not to their new magic), and enjoying sharing this utterly unique experience.

When the four first arrive in Ta'akan, they have a frightening experience in the Owner's Head Tavern when an enormous Bar Brawl erupts around them. When they leave the city for the last time (not counting when Ringo accidentally teleports back there), they have dinner in the Owner's Head and laugh at how tame the nightly brawl seems now.

In the prologue of Game Theory (Fan Fic), Precia asks Fate if she would like to see Alicia. And in the epilogue...

Advent Crossover Crisis begins and ends with narration from Sly Cooper, both times discussing how everyone goes through very strange lengths of time, even relative to how strange their life usually is. To a lesser extent, the first and last line of spoken dialogue are both said by Deadpool.

Crossed Paths: Upon returning to their own worlds, Indy and the mane six find themselves in the areas where they disappeared, and presumably Jack did as well (though his scene starts a while after he returns to his world, so we don't know for sure).

Uninvited Guests begins and ends with Toshiro Hitsugaya working with Nanao Ise in his office. The first time was a Daydream Surprise. The second time, Nanao and Rangiku Matsumoto traded squads.

Something's main story begins with a description of the stolen plot and ends with a description of the plot itself.

The first paragraphs of the first and last chapters of Warriors of the World: Soldiers of Fortune is exactly the same apart from a change in season to show the passage of time, to capture the image of the world before and after the events of the story.

Necessary To Win begins and ends with a few paragraphs of narration worded in a way that can apply to either Miho or Saki. The beginning of the story talks about why they came to dislike tankery and why they're returning to it, while the end talks about the results and what awaits them in the future.

Judge Minty (a short fan film based on the Judge Dredd comics) opens with Minty almost getting killed on the streets by trying to grant a member of the Kovaks mob mercy and getting pulled off active duty by Dredd. At the end of the short, he finds himself in the same situation when a Cursed Earth dweller begs for mercy, which Minty denies him.

Hogyoku ex Machina: Aizen's story begins and ends with him being stabbed through the head by Ichigo. The first time, the Hogyoku saves him. The second time, it doesn't and he dies.

"Solaere ssiun Hnaifv'daenn": The first and last scenes start with Tovan tr'Khev walking in on Jaleh Khoroushi doing her daily prayers.

The Fifth Act: The beginning of Cloud's journey starts with him saving Genesis when the latter's chronic pain interrupts their fight, curing him from a painful deterioration and a horrific downward spiral. It ends with Genesis interrupting Cloud's fight with Sephiroth, saving both their lives and preventing Cloud's self-destruction.

The Gensokyo 20XX series begins with Reimu's narration and it ends with her narration.

The second and last chapters of The Bug Princess revolve around surprise celebrations for Lydia.

Ghosts of Evangelion: In the beginning of the story, Asuka hugs Shinji and makes him promise that he will not leave her from that day on. In the end of the story she hugs him tenderly and reassures him that he was true to his word.

In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: In the first scene Shinji is watching over a sleeping, comatose Asuka. In the last scene, Shinji is keeping watch over a sleeping Asuka. There is a key difference, though: in the final scene Shinji is not depressed or hysterical; he is calm and confident that she will wake up. It's implied that she will.

At the end of the first chapter of A Black Comedy, Harry Potter tells someone (as he's being sucked into the Veil of Death), "You can keep my sandwich." At the end of the story, James flees a restaurant and when asked about the food he left, tells his son "You can keep my sandwich."

At the beginning of The Evil Gods, Part 1, the heroes pray to God, who kills Grover Underwood. At the end of the story, they call on God's assistance to defeat Hades.

Attack of the Sphinx begins with William spying on Carter meeting with Anubis, only to get surprised and captured. At the end of the story (at least thus far), Carter, now a Prayer Warrior, goes to Syria and gets kidnapped by the Islamic State.

The first installment of the series begins with Miho being called in to the student council office in an attempt to pressgang her into taking tankery. Near the end, Miho sees them again, and they thank her for her help.

"Paths Towards Victory" begins with the Atago family getting dressed for the convention. Their final scene involves them going back to their hotel room, and changing out of their business attire.

On a series-spanning example, Oarai's first and last battles with other schools both end in Oarai narrowly being defeated, with Anglerfish being eliminated immediately after(BC Freedom)/before (Pravda) they can take out the commander's tank.

A Scotsman in Egypt begins with Edward and Edmund Canmore getting piss drunk, cursing their father, and leading an army off to Egypt to conquer the Middle East; it ends three generations later, with a vast Scottish empire covering the length and breadth of Europe and Africa, and their great-grandson Kirk getting piss drunk with Angus the Mauler, Edward of Shetland and Edmund Besat, cursing his father, and leading his mates and a huge army to conquer the Aztec empire.

The Miraculous Ladybug fanfic One Thing After Another starts with Adrien exhibiting cat-like behaviours like jumping in empty boxes, and ends with Marinette exhibiting ladybug-like behaviours like eating aphids.

The Alarmaverse: The story opens with Ditzy waking up, noticing a dimensional rift in the sky above, and wishing that she could share the sight with somepony else. The story ends with another dimensional rift, and Ditzy waking up. And waking Dr. Hooves up so he can see it.

The Triptych Continuum installment "Unstable Sale", detailing the Cutie Mark Crusaders' attempt to fund their next scheme by selling off the remains of their previous crusades, opens with the line "The Crusade had a cost, and Apple Bloom was no longer able to pay." It ends on the same line after the combination of looking over all of their failures, being confronted by countless ponies who have been harmed by their single-mindedness, and realizing how long it has been going on drives Apple Bloom to renounce the Crusade and try to actually think about her future.

The Ojou-sama begins and ends with Mayumi searching the school for Tatsuya, though he is a good deal happier during the latter.

The first chapter of the fangame LISA: The Pointless begins and ends with Alex, the main protagonist, almost bleeding to death while being taken somewhere on a vehicle.

In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus is baptized, the heavens split in half and God announces that Jesus is His son. At the dead of Jesus in the crucifixion, a curtain depicting the heavens in the Temple of Jerusalem tears in half and exposes the Ark of the Covenant (figuratively God's presence, representing his departure from the Temple).

Poetry

"The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service both begins and ends with the same stanza, referring to the queerest sight ever seen by the Northern Lights (namely the eponymous cremation). The poem in between these stanzas describes the events of Sam's death, his subsequent cremation, and what the narrator saw when he looked into Sam's funeral pyre. He saw Sam sitting up "looking cool, and calm", happy to be warm for the first time since leaving his home in Tennessee.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men that toil for gold

The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see

Brazilian movie magazine SET had in its page "Nostalgia", featuring a famous movie image. Once the section was finished on issue 199, they went back to the first picture, Gilda.

Professional Wrestling

Lance Storm began his wrestling career in 1990 with a match against fellow Hart Dungeon alum, Chris Jericho. In 2005, he came out of retirement for one last match at ECW One Night Stand against Chris Jericho.

The 2010 Feud of the Year began when Kevin Steen smashed El Generico in the face with a steel chair after they lost to The Young Bucks at Final Battle 2009. One year later, during the main event of Final Battle 2010, Generico uses that very steel chair, still smeared with his own blood, and in the same arena where his former best friend betrayed and abandoned him, smashes it across Steen's face to win their grudge match and send Steen packing from ROH.

Roman Reigns began his ascent to the top of WWE by winning the 2015 Royal Rumble, where Philadelphia booed him straight out of the building. He completed his ascent on the December 14, 2015 of RAW by winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in that same city, and the very same crowd that hissed and jeered at him couldn't cheer loud enough, happily celebrating his win.

The Shield's dissolution when Seth Rollins turned on his teammates happened in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the same arena that hosted the 2012 Survivor Series that the stable debuted.

In Progress Wrestling Jimmy Havoc's title run started with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman and ended with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman (one of the people who own the company).

On WWE NXT, Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville's slow-burning feud begins when Zayn loses a number one contender's match for the NXT Championship against Neville. After the match, Neville extends his hand for a handshake but Zayn kicks his hand away...only to pull him in for a hug, showing that there are no hard feelings despite Zayn's loss. A year later, when their friendship is strained and the feud is at its peak, Zayn finally beats Neville for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: R Evolution. Post-match, the kicked hand-to-hug sequence plays out again – only this time with the roles reversed.

The first scene of Ruby Quest is Ruby waking up in darkness, and pressing a red button to turn on the lights, which reveals her to be in a locker. The final scene is Daisy waking up in darkness, and pressing a red button to turn on the lights, which reveals her to be in a locker.

Sport

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety maintains a video channel for the public release of explanations of supplemental discipline. They're basically video essays; they start with a one-sentence summary of the punishment issued, then go into background and detail before restating the punishment.

The Montreal Expos played their first game in existence against the New York Mets. Before moving to Washington to become the Nationals, they also played their last ever game against the New York Mets. Both games took place at Shea Stadium.

In Rugby Union, the Heineken Cup was the top European club competition from the 1995–96 season through 2013–14, after which it was replaced by the current European Rugby Champions Cup. The first-ever Heineken Cup was won by French club Toulouse, which went on to win France's national championship. The last Heineken Cup was won by another French club, Toulon, which also went on to win the French championship.

Kobe Bryant first scored in the NBA on November 5, 1996 against the New York Knicks. He scored his last point in the NBA on April 13, 2016 against the Utah Jazz. Both points were from the free-throw line.

The Red Sox first World Series lost during the Curse of the Bambino era which began with trading star Babe Ruth to the Yankees was a lost to the St.Louis Cardinals in the 1946 Series. The team they beat to end the 86 year drought? The St.Louis Cardinals. Bonus points as the player that got the last out Edger Renteria was wearing number 3 just like the Babe.

The New England Patriots' 2003 season has an interesting take on this. They began their regular season with a 31-0 loss at the Buffalo Bills. When the Patriots faced the Bills again at home in Week 17, they won by the same 31-0 score. They would go on to win their second Super Bowl that year.

During the 108 years of heartbreak the Cubs endured, seasons would end in two ways. Being obliterated out of the Playoffs (2007,2008, and 2015) or being very close only to choke in the end (1969, 1984, and 2003). What better way to end the century of heartbreak by being on the other side of the table, the team that many people count out after being down 3-1 in the World Series against the Indians, only for the Indians to choke and the Cubs coming all the way back to win the Series.

The 1994 FIFA World Cup began with a missed penalty kick in the opening ceremony by Diana Ross, and ended with a missed penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the final by Roberto Baggio, which won Brazil the World Cup.

Tabletop Games

Many World Of Darkness sourcebooks both old and new begin and end with information related to a specific event. Mage: The Awakening has a diary in the front from a student, and ends with a letter from the mage who's teaching said student to that mage's last student, who went bad and was responsible for Awakening the student writing the diary. Promethean: The Created has the first and second halves of Mr Verney's interview with a psychiatrist.

The Eclipse Phase intro fiction 'Lack' begins and ends with Sava waking up in a new body and asking what the date is.

Battletech, the new ilKhan Brett Andrews started the Wars of Reaving in a Clan council where he demonstrated a Trial of Reaving by killing the Diamond Shark Khan, near the wars end he was killed in another Clan council when pulled a dirty move in killing the Star Adder Khan, and the Star Adder saKhan killed him almost immediately.

Microscope: Play begins with the selection of both the beginning and ending of the history the players build over the course of the game. This makes it easy to link the two thematically: empires and great families can rise and fall, new nations can arise in the ashes of the old, etc.

At the very beginning of Zero Time Dilemma's Decision Game, Zero says: "This is the Decision Game. The fates of you, me and the human race hang in the balance". At the very end of the videogame, he says: "The fates of you, me and mankind are all on the line. This is the Decision Game". What's ironic about all this is that Zero had the power to kill the characters at the beginning, and at the end the characters can kill Zero.

Web Animation

Red vs. Blue has one of the three possible endings as an inverted book end—whereas Episode 1 features the Blues spying on the Reds, who are chatting atop the base, here we have the Reds spying on the Blues doing the same thing.

This is also the canonical ending.

Grif and Simmons also once again call shotgun on the new vehicle, this time in reverse.

This happens again in the Recollection Saga. Reconstruction began with a soldier looking at the dead body of a Freelancer as the camera panned up in Valhalla, showing a huge number of characters (so many that the creators actually had to run several games and use splitscreen to get that many). Revelation ends with a soldier looking at the body of Agent Texas in Avalanche and the camera pans up to show a similar shot.

The first scene of There she is!! is Nabi being harrassed by Doki at a drink machine. The final scene is Nabi wiping racist graffiti off of it while sharing a drink with Nabi.

Bowser's Kingdom episode 1 ends with Mario beating up Hal and Jeff because a Shy Guy betrayed them and The Movie ends with Mario and Luigi beating Hal and Jeff because Steve betrayed them.

The story of Lucky Day Forever starts with 514 falling for the Whites' propaganda and ends with Sasiadka falling for the Whites' propaganda. This is a way to show that the Proles want to stand out like the Whites.

Pencil: Wouldn't it be weird if the very first and very last spoken words of BFDI were the same? Match: Yeah!note This being the very first word in the very first episode of BFDI.

At the start of Dick Figures: The Movie, young Red says "Cuz I'm AWESOME!" and he and young Blue high-five. At the end, old Red says "Cuz we're AWESOME!" and he and old Blue high-five.

In Mario Brothers, the series starts and ends with the same scene of Mario running from something.

RWBY: Pyrrha's Volume 3 first and last appearance had Ruby shouting her name, one in happiness, the other in despair.

Also, the show begins with a speech from an unknown narrator who Ozpin counteracts. At the end of the third volume, this narrator responds to Ozpin's earlier statement and reveals herself as be the Big Bad to the audience.

Web Comics

Chapter 33 of Drowtales began with the lines. "Nuqrah'Shareh. The Modern, Peaceful and Beautiful jewel of the West!" It ended with " Nuqrah'Sharen; The Great. Modern jewel of the West"

Compare the first and secondRoomies! strips with the finalRoomies! strip (the rerun commentary even says "I really love my bookend conclusions, dont I.") and (to a lesser extent) the first two Roomies! with thisJoyce and Walky! which debuted two days after the Walkyverse's tenth anniversary.

The first strip of Shortpacked! has the megalomaniacal Galasso ranting about how all will bow before him, until Ethan reminds him "This is just a toy store." In the final strip, a different megalomaniac dismisses the staff's resistance by saying "This is just a toy store," and Leslie replies, "THE HELL IT IS."

Each volume of Ménage à 3 begins and ends with similar, frequently NSFW scenes, usually involving (or at least referencing) some of the same characters. Note that each volume is exactly 150 strips by the comic's own numbering scheme:

The first volume opens with Gary coming home early from work, having a soon-to-be ironic thought just before opening the door, and walking in on Matt sodomizing Dillon, which is when he finds out that they're gay. Matt and Dillon move out shortly afterward. It ends with Dillon coming home early from a rehearsal, having a soon-to-be ironic thought just before opening the door, and walking in on Sandra sodomizing Matt. Dillon moves back in with Gary shortly afterward.

The second volume opens with Gary having an Erotic Dream about Zii, which turns into an erotic nightmare when it's revealed it's a male version of Zii, because of the influence of Dillon's presence in the bed. It ends with Yuki in bed with Zii and having an erotic dream about a female Gary.

The third volume opens with Sandra waking up on DiDi's boobs, and ends with her waking up on Senna's.

The fourth volume opens with Yuki surprising Kiley in the shower, and ends with DiDi surprising Yuki in the shower.

The fifth volume opens with Dillon stunned to be called into a room where Chanelle is sitting naked and with thighs apart (apparently requesting oral sex), and an also naked Amber is standing around; he then gets kissed on the cheeks by the two women. The penultimate strip of the volume has Erik and Jim walking in on several naked women, notably Peggy with her thighs apart (receiving oral sex from Sonya); the last strip has Gary stunned to be called into a room which contains a naked Senna and clothed Sandra, both standing around, before he gets kissed on the cheeks by the two women. This breaks the pattern a little, in that the echo is arguably spread across two strips, and none of the characters from the first strip recur (although Gary is mentioned in the first strip and appears in the last), but it's close enough.

The sixth volume begins with Sonya getting home after an interesting evening and thinking about her situation, then being interrupted on the doorstep by Peggy, who has followed her home looking for a bed for the night. It ends with Gary getting home after an interesting evening and thinking about his situation, then being interrupted on the doorstep by Amber, who has followed him home looking for a bed for the night. The requirement for characters to be repeated has evidently been scrapped (except that both Sonya and Gary are thinking about Zii), but the visual and thematic echoes and contrasts are strong.

The seventh volume begins with Zii waking up in bed and finding Sonya sleeping next to her; then, she's shocked to find Yuki there too. It ends with Kiley waking up in bed and finding Yuki sleeping next to her; then, she's shocked to find Sonya there too.

The eight volume begins with a wrestling brawl between DiDi and Roxie; it ends with a wrestling ... something ... between Yuki, Sonya, and Gary, with three-quarters of the strip having near-identical pictorial composition.

8-Bit Theater begins with Black Mage and Fighter lost while searching for a MacGuffin in the beginning. In the epilogue, they're once again lost while searching for another quest, and Fighter suggests they continue looking for the very same MacGuffin.

Problem Sleuth begins with a particularly hard-boiled Private Eye Monologue delivered by the titular Problem Sleuth. After Problem Sleuth has performed Sepulchritude and used The Final Flip-Out, he's on the verge of death, where the original monologue's structure is used, except this time, it's talking about how he's in limbo.

The Phoenix Requiem begins with a celebration of "All Souls' Night" (in that setting it has similar importance than our Christmas/New Year's Eve). The comic ends with the same celebration two years later. The first scene begins with Jonas arriving. The last one ends the same way.

Homestuck did a variation at the end of its fourth act — the final scene of the end-of-act Animation Bump is of a meteor from the Reckoning passing through one of Skaia's defensive gates and striking John's house, which is exactly what happened in the conclusion of Act 1 and what kickstarted the adventure to begin with.

The end-of-Act 5 Animation Bump did the same thing: to represent all of the kids' reality being fundamentally reset by the Scratch, when Jade is enlarging the Fourth Wall for her and John to travel through, it displays a rapidly-reversing slideshow of many of the earliest panels of Homestuck, ending with the very first page of John standing in his room before cutting to white.

The first pesterlog of Act 5 Act 2 ended with John telling Karkat "See you soon". The last pesterlog starts with Karkat repeating the same line to Jade.

Darken both starts and ends with a character being resurrected to serve a demon lord.

City Face #1 begins with City Face despondent over his sub-par female-wooing skills, and another pigeon shows up to offer him some advice. It ends with a similar scene, only this time City Face is the one offering advice.

Amber says to herself, "Dilly... never change" in the first strip, and in the last strip of the first volume, Ruby thinks to herself "Something's gotta change here" (reflecting their different views of Dillon, the character under consideration in both cases).

In strip #151, Ruby and Dillon are platonically in bed together, and Ruby grabs Dillon in his sleep, so he complains that he can't breathe. In strip #300, Dillon ends up in bed with Jerzy, and the sex leaves him breathless.

In Toki No Tanaka, the first and last pages of the first episode end with a panel of Sakura sleeping in exactly the same position.

The Unsounded short story Vienne of Seferpine begins and ends with an assessment of Vienne's capabilities. But while the beginning is upbeat and confident in tone, the ending is troubled and uncertain.

The first comic both begins and ends with Earth saying "huh" thoughtfully while looking at a rock.

#13 begins and ends with Jupiter glaring at Sun's back and saying he hates him, humorously showing that he learned absolutely nothing from his misadventures during the comic.

Always Raining Here: At one point, Carter gives a ride to Adrian, in which Adrian makes it abundantly clear that he has no interest in Carter and is actually uncomfortable with their situation, at the end, the two, now in a relationship, get away for a weekend together with their friends and the final page has them giving each other a Held Gaze.

Web Original

Sailor Nothing has the following at the start and end of the Web Novel. "My name is Shoutan Himei. I'm sixteen years old/seventeen years old, going on eighteen in two months, and I'm very tired."

Broken Saints begins and ends with a voice-over monologue by Shandala, starting with "I dream". Both start off much the same, but grow gradually different to reflect the change from the beginning and ending of the story.

The pilot of Cause of Death begins and ends with a shot of the sunny street, which counters the horrible things that happened inside that house...

Awkward. begins and ends with the same discussion between Alex and Lester. The context and roles have changed, but the location and dialogue are the same.

Kickassia begins with The Nostalgia Critic knocking on President Kevin Baugh's door and telling him he plans to invade Molossia. It ends with a defeated Critic knocking on the door and giving Baugh his country back.

And speaking of The Nostalgia Critic, most of his reviews actually begin and end with him saying, "I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it, so you don't have to!"

Suburban Knights begins with Angry Joe believing he's won a free car. It ends with Chester A Bum believing he's won a free car.

Oddly enough, one could apply this to each of the (as of 2012, first) four Anniversary specials with respect to the relationship between the Critic and The Angry Video Game Nerd. The first one is basically a set-up for an all-out brawl between the two that had been developing for several reviews. At the end of the fourth special — To Boldly Flee — a now-friendlier Nerd ends up helping the Critic to save the day and get his friend home, revealing a sense of respect that had developed in their time since the feud, culminating in a friendly handshake between the two before the Nerd departs.

Critic: See you on the other side, man.

Nerd: Nice working with you, Critic.

A Very Potter Musical opens with the song "Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts" and A Very Potter Sequel ends with a reprise of the same song. The sequel is actually a prequel, so when they're singing "Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts," it's like putting the two ends right in the middle.

The Yogscast has one in their first season of its Minecraft series. A bit before discovering the town full of NPCs, Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane build a portal to the Nether (which doesn't work). At the end of the season, they are at the same portal, preparing to venture into it. However, they end up not trying to enter until the start of season three, with season two being more of a breather season. And the portal still doesn't work.

Season three starts with almost the entirety of Simon and Lewis's old world on fire, and them trying to reclaim items from the wreckage. Much later (though not at the end of the series, but at the end of an important part), they find Mistral City also on fire, and are trying to reclaim items from the wreckage. This time, specifically the Holy Record from the church.

In Survival Island (a custom map that eventually starts having slight relevance to the main plot that is billed as Season 2), they are in a slight hurry at the start to get coal for torches. Near the end, they again go looking for coal, this time to fuel the airship that will take them home.

The Blackrock Chronicle has a heart breaking one. Near the beginning and end of season 2. Both times the confession at the end is averted. First, because the computer explodes before Zoey Proasheck can read Rythian's message. The second time in the closing of season two, it's Zoey, and her sentence is interrupted by a nuclear explosion.

At the start of the Mario Party TV group's first Grand Canal playthrough, Steeler states that Toadette is top tier thanks to her Triple Shroom Orb. At the end, after discovering he couldn't use other Orbs while it was in effect, he claims she's switched to bottom tier.

In the beginning of Matt's video A New Planet & Antimatter, Matt pats his body, and says, "Woah". This doesn't make sense until the end. At the end, Eugene breaks a container of antimatter, which kills Matt. Matt convinces St. Peter to let him go back to Earth instead of Hell, since he was just about to get 1500 subscribers. He goes back, pats his body, and says "Woah".

Jake's "3 paradoxes" video forms a loop with the end seguing into the start, reasonably. While explaining the butterfly effect, Jake kills a fly, causing him to spontaneously grow a mustache. A knife also materializes in his pocket. He ends up throwing the knife behind him, killing another Jake in the distance. Jake uses this to segue into the grandfather paradox, the last of the 3. He realizes that the entire video is a paradox and tries to do his Signing-Off Catch-Phrase, but disappears from existence before he can complete the sentence. The camera winds up on the ground, in the exact same state that it was at the start. The beginning of the video replays itself, and you already know where this is going...

The famous GMod channel RubberFruit started on October 28, 2006, and released its final video (before going defunct, at least) on October 28, 2013, exactly seven years later.

The Welcome to Night Vale episode "One Year Later" follows up on many of the plotlines first introduced in the pilot episode. The opening lines are nearly identical.

The Super Mario Logan episode, "Where's Jeffy?" begins and ends with Jeffy riding a unicorn piñata and playing a maraca, a rubber chicken, and a cat piano while Mario plugs his ears.

The first and final scenes of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared are practically identical; all of the puppets are sitting around a table as a notepad comes to life and asks them what their favorite idea is. Now, for context, the series finale ended with Red Guy unplugging a machine controlling the teachers that are currently torturing Yellow Guy, which ends up resetting all the events of the series, taking the characters all the way back to the first episode in a "Groundhog Day" Loop.

The premise of Jonathan Pie is that a stressed out journalist says what he's really thinking between takes, which naturally creates this effect in most of his videos.

Real Life

History

The planet Earth's very first moments manifested as a hellish, molten landscape, as will its final moments billions of years from now when the Sun reaches its 'red giant' phase.

The American Civil War began with the Union loss of Fort Sumter. Shortly after the war, on April 14, 1865, Fort Sumter had a flag-raising ceremony where the same commander who took the flag down when the Union lost the fort raised the same flag up.

The first major battle (First Battle of Bull Run) began on Wilmer McLean's farm in Manassas, Virginia, on July 21, 1861. During the war, McLean moved south to the quiet community of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, so as not to be caught between the armies again. But the war followed him. On April 8, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee finally decided to surrender his forces, and he sent out a messenger to find a place at which to meet General Ulysses S. Grant. The house the messenger found was Wilmer McLean's. Afterwards, McLean reportedly said, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."

The first emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire was Constantine I, who founded the city of Constantinople in 330. The last emperor was Constantine XI, who died when the city fell to the Turks in 1453.

Rome was founded as a city by a man called Romulus, while the last Roman Emperor (in the west) was called Romulus Augustus. It gets deeper, with the first Emperor of Rome having had chosen the name Augustus. The last Western Roman Emperor shared his name with both founders. Emperor Julius Nepos continued to be recognized by Odoacer as Emperor of the West for four years after Romulus Augustus, but because he didn't rule the city of Rome (his empire was limited to the province of Dalmatia), it's more romantic to ignore him and specifically invoke Book Ends on the Western Empire.

The Roman Republic began and ended with a rebellion and civil war involving a man named Brutus who belonged to the gens Junia, in fact, his participation was also played to evoke the pivotal removal of the Etruscian Kings that began the Republic since Caesar was accused of being a King in all but name, which would then be replaced by the rule of the Emperors, who were, in fact, Kings in all but name.

The Roman Empire begins with a single city (Rome) sacked by a powerful neighboring people (the Gauls, in 390 BC). The Romans declared that this must never happen again. It ends eighteen hundred years later with a single city (Constantinople) sacked by a powerful neighboring people (the Turks, in 1453 AD).

For many historians, the Middle Ages began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, and ended with the fall of the Byzantine Empire (aka the Eastern Roman Empire) in 1453 AD; on the other hand, if we take the concept of the Late Antiquity into consideration then the Middle Ages in Europe began with the rise of a Muslim Empire (The Umayyad Caliphate) who would eventually cut off the trade link between the east and western Europe in the Mediterranean and ended with the rise of a Muslim Empire (The Ottoman Empire) who would eventually cut off the trade link between the east and western Europe in the Mediterranean.

The major European conflicts of the twentieth century. To wit: the Eastern Question of what would happen to the newly formed Balkan states after downfall of the Ottoman Empire triggered World War I, as Serbia wished to take over Bosnia which was an Austrian protectorate. WWI caused WWII, as Germany (and other nations) were deeply unsatisfied by the results of WWI. It also caused the Russian revolution, and the first major communist power. WWII caused the spread of communism through Eastern Europe, mostly through the Soviets, but through homegrown communist partisans in Yugoslavia. This led to the Cold War, which contributed to the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. The downfall of communism in Yugoslavia led to the disintegration of the nation, and the Yugoslav Wars, posing the new question: what would happen to the newly formed Balkan states after the downfall of Yugoslavia? Especially as Serbia wished to take over Bosnia. The history of the twentieth century began and ended with "some damn thing in the Balkans".

France and Germany in the 1870-1950 period:

The III French Republic was proclaimed during a successful German invasion in 1870. It was dissolved during a successful German invasion in 1940.

After the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, which was also the end of the II French Empire, France had to endure the humiliation of seeing a German Empire proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, just outside Paris, and cede the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to it. In 1919, after the end of World War I, which was also the end of the German Empire, the nascent German republic had to sign a peace treaty in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles and cede Alsace and Lorraine back to France.

Preceding that peace treaty was an armistice signed in a train wagon outside Compiègne, in 1918. The 1940 armistice between France and Germany was signed in the same wagon and also in the same place outside Compiègne. Once again, France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.

To make sure that it wasn't used again, SS troops burned down that train wagon during the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

The first holy roman emperor to be crowned by the Pope was Charles, Charles the Great or Charlemagne, while the last emperor to be crowned by the Pope was Charles, Charles I of Spain or V of the Holy Roman Empire, another parallel than can be brough out is that each reigns marked the rise (Charlemagne) and decline (Charles I) of the secular power that the Catholic Church used to have on the European monarchs as well as that of of the imperial title.

The Spanish American colonial empire began with Ferdinand V/IInote V of Castile, II of Aragon and ended with Ferdinand VII.

The first Habsburg king of Spain was Charles I. The last was Charles II.

The first Inca to have ruled from Cuzco was Manco Capac, whose reign marked the start of the Inca Confederacy from which his descendents would eventually rise the confederacy to an empire; the last Inca to have ruled from Cuzco was Manco Inca, who fleed to Vilcabamba to fight against the Spanish invaders and whose failed rebellion and that of his sons marked the definitive twilight of the Tawantinsuyu.

The Spanish Civil War began when the army mutinied over the perceived threat of a Communist takeover, in 1936. The Spanish Civil War ended when the (loyalist) army mutinied over the perceived threat of a Communist takeover, in 1939.

The first Nasrid king of Granada was Muhammad I, who rose in rebellion against Ibn Hud and collaborated with the Christian King Ferdinand III of Castille and Leon, who was married at that time with Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen. The last king was Muhammad XI, who rose in rebellion against his father Mulay Hassan and collaborated with the Christians before losing it all to the Catholic Kings Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabel I of Castille and Leon.

The first member of the Hohenstaufen to be crowned King of the Romans was Conrad III, father of the first Swabian emperor Frederick Barbarossa; the last member of the Hohenstaufen to be crowned King of the Romans was Conrad IV, son the last Swabian emperor Frederick II.

People

Playwright Eugene O'Neill's last words: "I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room, and God damn it, died in a hotel room."

There's that Stephen Wright joke that he wished his first word had been "Quote", so that on his deathbed he could say "Unquote".

Your parents take care of you when you're younger, and you usually end up taking care of them when they get older.

Muammar Gaddafi's life: He was born in a small fishing village called Sirte. Later during the 2011 Libyan Civil War, Sirte become the place of his last stand and death.

Science

Should humanity go extinct, then many of our iconic buildings will actually deteriorate in the reverse order of how and when they were built: the more modern skyscrapers will be among the first to crumble away, while structures lasting since the ancient times (such as the Pyramids of Egypt) will take millennia to disappear.

Technology

"What hath God wrought?" was both the very first electric telegram, sent in 1837, and the very last telegram sent by Western Union. (Optical telegraphs, using smoke, mirrors, or semaphore, existed long before.) Telegraph is still in use in countries including Bahrain, Germany, Japan, and Sweden, mainly for formal notices (mainly funerals, weddings, and births), and for sheer novelty. It's also still in use in areas of the world without Internet access.

Community

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